The Long Good Boy

Rachel Alexander was having one of a series of those sleepless nights when every city sound grates, especially in a quiet neighborhood. The ringing of her cell phone was no exception. On the other hand, the request to meet the next evening held promise; the caller not identifying herself sounded just mysterious enough to make it interesting. If she couldn't sleep, Rachel thought, maybe a mystery would liven things up. And since she had no idea at all of where this meeting would lead, it certainly qualified as something to investigate.

She found out where she was going soon enough: Her caller was a transvestite hooker, one of the many who work New York's old meat packing district on the lower West Side. Someone was killing the girls and they knew, through experience, that the cops wouldn't be there to help them. In short order, Rachel finds herself not only transformed, but on the stroll, walking streets deserted but for marks and threats during bitter nights that offer fear in every whispered sound.

She also discovers that Dash isn't the right dog for one job she has to do, and that she has to turn a long-haired dachshund into a burglar to get the answers she needs, answers she couldn't even begin to imagine in the unimaginable world she's entered.